Knee problems - incorrect position setup?

sirlylos

Hi all,

Over the last 2 weeks I developed swelling and pain under the knee cap and was putting it down to 5-a-side football that I’ve recently started playing. However, I have just today remembered reading something about knee injury’s from incorrect position set-ups. I recently spent time trying to get a comfortable position as I was suffering from a lot of back pain when riding. After flipping the handlebar stem and adjusting the seat position I managed to make my ride significantly more comfortable and haven’t experienced any pain when riding but I’m wondering if my knee caps are taking a lot of abuse from an incorrect set-up.

Does anyone have any experience from this and more to the point what I can do to remedy the problem.

Any help would be much appreciated.

ric7481

Incprrect set-up could well be playing havoc with your knees - thing is with cycling, its such a repetitive action, that damage can be quickly done...............Either google bike set-up / bike fit for the basics or as I did, spend 2 hours and £20 at LBS having it all set up...has greatly improved my comfort, knees and average speeds

mask of sanity

Are you clipless? If so how much float have you got? More float is meant to be better for you're knees I believe.

keef66

5-a-side football did more damage to my knees than cycling ever has. Cycling was part of the recommended physio after each bout of knee surgery.

Give the footy a miss for a couple of weeks and see what happens

macondo01

http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageb ... -5053.html

Yep try not cycling for while as suggested above. If it goes away ie it is the bike causing it - it is worth doing some adjustments. See link above for clipless. If that doesnt work out check you have cleats/shoes with some float in them. Seat height and position etc. Small adjustments one at a time then try.

If it prevails I'd go see the doc.

I had knee pain and thought it was something to put up with but in the end by adjusting it went away.

sirlylos

Thanks for the repsonses fellas,

I've been off the bike for the past few days and I'm sitting out of football for a few weeks to see if I can determine the problem. I use SPD's and I've read a bit about cleat positioning so I'm going to have a look at that over the weekend, I may even just book in to my LBS so that I know everything has been checked over by a pro.

Appreciate the help on this one,

sirlylos

skidzymagee

Riding is good recovery therapy from knee injuries. Incorrect cleat or not enough float is a main cause of knee trauma . It can also be caused by patella tracking problems . Does it click or pop when you walk . One good test is to wrap tape around your leg just beneath the knee cap . Does the pain ease ?
Another possibilty is housemaids knee prepatella bursitis, Does it hurt when you kneel ? usually this is a ruptured blood vessel in the bursa . In all cases RICE ( rest,ice, compression ,elevation?

wombler

It could also be that your pushing too high a gear, which can put a strain on the knee. I had something similar when I started cycling. Keeping your cadence (rpm) higher may help (and not sprinting away from a standing start) - it did for me.

I also found that focusing on trying to keep my knees inline with my legs when cycling helps - i.e. not having knees bandying out (this is not as obvious as it sounds).

See http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm for more info - go to the section on Chondromalacia in particular.

marin_maniac

Interesting post, well it is to me anyway as I'm suffering from knee pain at the moment.

I've laid of the bike this week to try and get them to settle down.

Not sure what caused mine to flair up. Probably moving the cleats and too high seat post!

SteppenHerring

Too low a seat is more likely to give problems - unless it's so high your knee is locking out at the bottom. For back pain, try stretching the hamstrings before riding so a low hands position is easier to get.

Also, as mentioned above, pushing too high a gear could do it.

bicyclerubber

It could be the bike, it could be the footie, it could be just walking up stairs I suppose

For some insight into bike fit, have a look at this video, it will give you an overview of what to think about when adjusting the saddle, bars, pedal relative to each other to optimise your comfort.

Think especially about pedal / cleat position too, that can be nasty on the knees

bigal.

As a rough guide to check your positioning try these 2 checks.

When clipped in and sitting on the bike with one of your pedals at the bottom of your pedal stroke your leg should be just short of fully extended. You should have a slight bend in your leg but only slight.

When sitting on the bike in your normal riding position if you look down to the skewer on the front wheel the tops of your bars should be dircetly in your line of sight from your eye to your front wheel hub.

These are only rough guides and if you are having problems then a proper bike fit could be the best money you have ever spent.

wombler

Also, let the knees settle down (stay off the bike and footie until the pain/discomfort has gone), then try riding and avoiding significant force on your knees. i.e. pull off slowly in low gear, keep spinning at high cadence. See how your knees feel after (i.e. next day). If OK, start building up the distance, keeping the same approach. You may need to just build up your quads. When you are stronger you can apply more force. This worked for me.

I play footie each week and never had this pain until putting in 50 miles a day on the bike (probably too much too soon).

And check your riding position and cleats as above.